I love writing. I revere the use of language as an instrument for seeking the truth about life. My books are downloadable and the paperback editions will be appearing soon. Click on the links at the right side of this page. Peruse this blog, it's loaded with music, photography and writing. Hey, sign up for my email list!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

The Scam Of Self Transformation

They're everywhere. There are thousands of would-be gurus, life
coaches, revealers of new techniques, New Age formulators of ways to help you
empower yourself, to get what you really want out of life. They're all offering you a way out of your
problems. Everything will be fine if
you follow the Eleven Laws of Committment, or the Seven Ways of Tai-Fen, or The
Secret's True Secret At The Heart Of The True Secret's Truest Secret.

Relationships,
Money, Health. Those are the holy
trinity upon which are based the promises of the Salesmen of Miraculous
Change. These salesmen will show you
how to cut through the knot of your obstacles, how to rid yourself of the
Negative Energies that have been keeping success at bay. For only $75, or $350,
or whatever amount applies, you can purchase the Program. You'll receive your DVD, The Book, and maybe
a T-shirt or a coffee mug. There are
essential accessories, like tuning forks and magic water and The Program
doesn't really work unless you have these gizmos to enhance your Chi. Gee.
If you follow the techniques diligently, the mess of your life will
clear up very soon, maybe in a few months.
You might start to see change immediately! Your life will begin to work for you!

Are
people THAT miserable?

Yes. A lot of people are.

Many,
too many people are sick and stressed out.
We've been hooked on the Happiness Con
our entire lives. It got cooked into The American Dream. It means different things to different people but those of us beyond a certain age have a veritable cellular expectation that the Good Times are going to roll. Our lives are supposed to be Fulfilling. That's written into the contract. Isn't it?

Now that it
hasn't worked out the way we planned we're in a state of shock. How did our lives get so fucked up? We were supposed to be happy, we were
guaranteed a life of abundance so long as we got our degrees and certificates
as we went around the track. We were
also expected to be "nice".
We weren't supposed to make Bad Karma.

Bad
Karma happened anyway. We chose the
wrong partners, made dumb business decisions and indulged in escapist
activities. Whoops!

I
call this state of affairs Human Life. Some
of us are more messed up than others, it's true, but the bedrock reality is
that everything is a mess. I'm not
saying that we can't and shouldn't work on our characters. I'm not saying we can't or shouldn't put
compassion into action on the stage of life.
I'm not saying that miracles don't happen. Clearly they do. Big ones and little ones. The world is filled with miracles, the world
IS a miracle. It's just that the world
is also a mess. How are we supposed to live
in a messed up world without being ourselves messed up?

I
believe that most of the Self Empowerment carpetbaggers are sincere. They really believe their own schtick. They're selling books, DVDs and T-shirts. They have followers.
People attend their seminars. I
can't help wondering if, deep down in the ooze of their suppressed Negative Energy,
they don't have a little twinge of guilt.
Nah, probably not. Ninety nine
percent of their followers, or consumers, are failing to transform their lives. They're still overweight, or single,
overwhelmed with financial problems,
fighting with a partner or confused by the demands of
parenthood. Hence they sign up for the Advanced Course.

The
Self Transformation Industry is just that, an industry. It's loaded with hyperbolic
advertising. If you want to transform
yourself, it will happen organically.
All you need to do is aim your intention and cooperate with your own
life. Good things will happen, and bad
things will happen. Usually it's the
pain that does the most transforming.

About Me

A Midwesterner by birth, I migrated to the West Coast just in time to be a hippie but discovered that I related better to the Beatniks. I harkened back to an "old school" world of hard bop, Coltrane, jazz, poetry, painting and photography. A large part of my life went "off the rails" and I experienced the reality of the streets for too long. Putting myself back together was the defining experience of my life so far. It wasn't easy. It did, however, nurture the writer in me. I have written novels, memoirs, poems, humorous fake emails, and commercials

for ridiculous non existent products. I have a passion for astronomy, history, psychology, the pure abstract absurdity of human experience (what the hell is it?). My partner is an honest to god Animal Communicator, as nutty as that may sound to some people. She is the real deal. She also suffers from Fibro and it's a curse with which we must work every day. Come visit my blog and